More time in Middle Earth is exactly what The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey provides-so much more that the movie starts to feel like some Buddhist exercise in deliberately inflicted tedium.

look, just because you've got a 30 second attention span doesn't mean that the rest of us have that same problem. you want instant gratification and lots of flash bang in your face screaming action....go watch the evening news. then get distracted by a shiny object on your way to the bathroom. or whatever it is you subhumans do with your pathetic lives. But those of us who actually LIKE storybuilding are going to watch this movie and enjoy it. yes - we're going...to enjoy....a movie that you hate.

I'm not a huge fan, but I found all the other movies enjoyable and well made. I guess geeks need warring factions to feel like they're part of something bigger, but honestly, the amount of passion and hard work that went into this project is irrefutable and frankly dazzling. I just can't find my yawn button when it comes to these films.

Weaver95:Elzar: Tolkien fans really are a bunch of pretentious pricks - so many more worthwhile fantasy/sci fi series deserve more attention. Instead we get a slightly edgier version of Narnia... in 48fps.

and we're STILL gonna enjoy the hell outta this movie...

muhahahahahahaha!

Until about halfway through the second movie when you run out screaming HOW DO I GET THE BOREDOM OUT OF MY HEAD?!

FTFA As someone with a lifelong resistance to fantasy literature (even as a kid, it was "This book has wizards in it? Next")

Yeah, your opinion is only relevant to people who also start from that perception.

The rest of us will probably love it. Make fun of nerds all you want to, but our favorite stories are the big moneymakers in theaters these days. (Maybe we're not the minority the writer of TFA thinks we are!)

I_C_Weener:I loved it the first time it was a movie. Doubt I'm interested in 6 hours of Bilbo.

When does Enders Game come out? Or something based on the Wheel of Time?

The Eye of the World - 2017/2018/2020The Great Hunt - 2022/2024/2026The Dragon Reborn - 2029/2030/2032The Shadow Rising - 2034/2037/2040The Fires of Heaven - 2041/2045/2050Lord of Chaos - Elected in 2052The Eye of the World (Reboot) - 2055

When they first announced they were making the movie I thought one 3hr film would do it justice. Then they decided to stretch it to two movies and I thought OK it's just going to be like LotR with the extended stuff in the theatrical release. When they pushed it out to 3 movies at likely well over 2hrs each I just went ahead and assumed there would be long boring stretches and terrible pacing.

I'm still going to see it and looking forward to it, but with tempered expectations.

MayoSlather:When they first announced they were making the movie I thought one 3hr film would do it justice. Then they decided to stretch it to two movies and I thought OK it's just going to be like LotR with the extended stuff in the theatrical release. When they pushed it out to 3 movies at likely well over 2hrs each I just went ahead and assumed there would be long boring stretches and terrible pacing.

I'm still going to see it and looking forward to it, but with tempered expectations.

I've heard they're including all kinds of background stuff in it. So I suppose stuff from the Silmarillion.

MayoSlather:When they first announced they were making the movie I thought one 3hr film would do it justice. Then they decided to stretch it to two movies and I thought OK it's just going to be like LotR with the extended stuff in the theatrical release. When they pushed it out to 3 movies at likely well over 2hrs each I just went ahead and assumed there would be long boring stretches and terrible pacing.

I'm still going to see it and looking forward to it, but with tempered expectations.

I was gonna say something, but you summed up my thoughts almost perfectly.

Weaver95:More time in Middle Earth is exactly what The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey provides-so much more that the movie starts to feel like some Buddhist exercise in deliberately inflicted tedium.

look, just because you've got a 30 second attention span doesn't mean that the rest of us have that same problem. you want instant gratification and lots of flash bang in your face screaming action....go watch the evening news. then get distracted by a shiny object on your way to the bathroom. or whatever it is you subhumans do with your pathetic lives. But those of us who actually LIKE storybuilding are going to watch this movie and enjoy it. yes - we're going...to enjoy....a movie that you hate.

Weaver95:not necessarily. Tolikien's books always were a bit 'wordy'. Add in some of the material from the Simarillion to the Hobbit and you've got a six part epic that spans a 1000 years.

It's gotta be this. It's probably 50% storyline from the Hobbit, 30% the quest of Gandalf into Dol Guldur to find out whether Sauron is the real thing or not, and 20% utterly made-up shiat ala Aragorn's 'death' in the battle against the Wargs.

Weaver95:More time in Middle Earth is exactly what The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey provides-so much more that the movie starts to feel like some Buddhist exercise in deliberately inflicted tedium.

look, just because you've got a 30 second attention span doesn't mean that the rest of us have that same problem. you want instant gratification and lots of flash bang in your face screaming action....go watch the evening news. then get distracted by a shiny object on your way to the bathroom. or whatever it is you subhumans do with your pathetic lives. But those of us who actually LIKE storybuilding are going to watch this movie and enjoy it. yes - we're going...to enjoy....a movie that you hate.

Weaver95:ShawnDoc: Hmm, take a short light reading book and turn it into 3 movies? Yeah, they're going to have more than a bit of filler in them.

not necessarily. Tolikien's books always were a bit 'wordy'. Add in some of the material from the Simarillion to the Hobbit and you've got a six part epic that spans a 1000 years.

The Hobbit was the one book he wasn't wordy. That and Children of Hurin. The problem, I think, stems from Jackson and co. Trying to make it epic.

Hobbits were always the readers view of a bigger world- Tolkien hinted at the past, massive epic events that happened elsewhere. Th example of Aragorn/ Arawen love story in LOTR or Saurons reappearance during the Hobbit- and Gandalf.

Tolkien was a geek himself; interested in languages and obsessed with creating a mythology for England. He would make a backstory out of poems, words and the like.

Except Tolkien only kept relevant information in the story-Everything else he threw in an index. For example- the Book describes Thorins dinner speech about Bilbo as "sarcastic". Tolkien actually had a backstory where Thorin yelled at Gandalf for picking an obvious idiot. He also had an explination of why Gandalf chose Bilbo- and why huge sent such a small group instead of a dwarf army.

But he never stopped to say why- because the Hibbit was based on Bilbo's diary. Everything was his point of view.

If the article is to believe: Jackson is starting out telling the backstory... Which is then repeated in the dinner. And he's including extra material: the White Council- The first appearance of Sauron and the battle that kept Gandalf away from the final leg of the journey,

I_C_Weener:I loved it the first time it was a movie. Doubt I'm interested in 6 hours of Bilbo.

When does Enders Game come out? Or something based on the Wheel of Time?

I'm OK with multiple movies being made for a single book. I usually had read the book before seeing the movie, and they have to cut too much out in order to meet reasonable time constraints.

That said, could imagine how many movies they would need to make (not to mention the budgets) to cover the WoT series? I'm game for it, but I doubt there would not be enough others to cover the cost of the production.

GAT_00:MayoSlather: When they first announced they were making the movie I thought one 3hr film would do it justice. Then they decided to stretch it to two movies and I thought OK it's just going to be like LotR with the extended stuff in the theatrical release. When they pushed it out to 3 movies at likely well over 2hrs each I just went ahead and assumed there would be long boring stretches and terrible pacing.

I'm still going to see it and looking forward to it, but with tempered expectations.

I've heard they're including all kinds of background stuff in it. So I suppose stuff from the Silmarillion.

They only have the rights to hobbit/LOTR. Tolkien estate aren't fans of Jackson's interpretation- Tolkien had written a lot of back story /deleted scenes which were collected in Unfinished Tales. Such as how Sauraman corruption of the White Council and the Hunt for the ring. Of why how Sauron was going to use Smaug to destroy Rivendale. And the most important: why Gandalf chose bumpkin Bilbo and only 13 dwarves to go against Smaug.

Of corse, the Big secret is that Tolkien never had the idea of the One Ring until he wrote LOTR.

He rewrote chunks of Riddle scene to fit the new narrative... The retconned of the geek literature.

Where's all the hot 20 year-old babes in skimpy outfits? Not even one car chase FFS?? No sexy vampires? A creative filmmaker would find a way to work in a few massive explosions! OK, so they don't have guns, but how about a couple of fine, buff wizards casting wicked spells at each other? Lightning bolt! Lightning bolt! Lightning bolt! PEW PEW PEW!!!

Lionel Mandrake:Where's all the hot 20 year-old babes in skimpy outfits? Not even one car chase FFS?? No sexy vampires? A creative filmmaker would find a way to work in a few massive explosions! OK, so they don't have guns, but how about a couple of fine, buff wizards casting wicked spells at each other? Lightning bolt! Lightning bolt! Lightning bolt! PEW PEW PEW!!!

Weaver95:More time in Middle Earth is exactly what The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey provides-so much more that the movie starts to feel like some Buddhist exercise in deliberately inflicted tedium.

look, just because you've got a 30 second attention span doesn't mean that the rest of us have that same problem. you want instant gratification and lots of flash bang in your face screaming action....go watch the evening news. then get distracted by a shiny object on your way to the bathroom. or whatever it is you subhumans do with your pathetic lives. But those of us who actually LIKE storybuilding are going to watch this movie and enjoy it. yes - we're going...to enjoy....a movie that you hate.

MayoSlather:When they first announced they were making the movie I thought one 3hr film would do it justice. Then they decided to stretch it to two movies and I thought OK it's just going to be like LotR with the extended stuff in the theatrical release. When they pushed it out to 3 movies at likely well over 2hrs each I just went ahead and assumed there would be long boring stretches and terrible pacing.

I'm still going to see it and looking forward to it, but with tempered expectations.

eh, pretty much my thoughts. Even though the Hobbit is a short book, I can see it being a long (~4/5 hour) movie if literally translated and would probably still be fine. But three 3-hour movies? Eh, it just kind of seems like it moves from "literally translated" into pedantic and bloated territory; or even worse: padded out for the sake of getting even more of a box office draw.

for the record,because someone else will probably bring it up: I do think the extended versions of LOTR were much better than the theatrical version. You could tell where pieces were missing in the theatrical version. Extending The Hobbit is quite a bit different as it seems like they're not only not cutting out anything, but adding more than what was there in the first place.